I recently faced a fast approaching scheduled date for a play-test session for the Fictioneers rules. (We are close to releasing a beta version for folks to try out… if you are interested in being part of the early play-test effort, let me know via the contact form here). We previously tested out the basic game mechanics but did not utilize any terrain. That was definitely a goal to add for this session. One item in the rules that I wanted to make sure we tried out was fence/barrier but I didn’t have any suitable terrain pieces ready… what to do with so little time to prepare. I could have put down pencils or whatever since it was just a play-test session but I was also planning on taking photos and posting an after action report (hopefully later this week). I had to do better than that.
Lucky for me, a great tabletop terrain crafter posted a perfect tutorial for this recently. After you are done reading here, check out Wyloch’s Armory “How to Speed Build an entire table of Ork terrain for Warhammer 40k” video here. I copied most of his ideas for my barricades so I’m not going to repeat the build instructions here, but rather just share a couple photos for inspiration. 40k minis are roughly twice the size as the Fictioneer minis. That will not be obvious from the photos since the minis next to the barricades frame the scale for each. Just keep in mind that you can use these techniques for whatever scale minis you are using for your game. I also applied my own paint scheme to suit my own terrain environment & esthetics and you should feel free to do the same for yours. “Enough talking… where’s the pics?”
Occasionally, things just seem right to me such as hastily constructing, Hastily Constructed Barricades. These are the prefect cheap and easy speed build items. I made six of these barricades. I didn’t track the build-time closely but it might have been 3 hours total for the 6 of them. It was just during some evening after work, TV watching time. Cutting up some cardboard and scrap material, initial rough assembly (cardboard only), let glue dry overnight (could have used a hot glue gun and not waited but the pva glue was right beside me). Add tooth picks and small stones, modeling paste, prime black, and let dry overnight. Paint, and then lastly add screen material. By screen material, I mean the type for a house widow. I prefer to use the metal type of screen for this type of damaged fencing rather than the fiberglass or polyester types. The metal type can be bent into a shape and it will roughly stay that way whereas the fiberglass or polyester types tend to straighten themselves out.
The Sitan Apes live high up in the mountains and typically use the rough terrain and caves for cover. But when they feel the need to come down to fight with their valley or plains dwelling neighbors, they scavenge starship wrecks or destroyed buildings for debris to make up barricades for their temporary camps. (There…I said it so it must be true…it is now part of the official Sitan Ape lore.) That is the look/feel that I was going for anyway with these pieces.
I mentioned using modeling paste. If you are not familiar with that, it is like a very thick acrylic paint. It fills gap well. It dries without shrinking. Flexes somewhat without cracking/peeling, dries fast, and can be painted over easily. It is intended to apply in thick heavy coats. I use it to texture bases, smooth seams, and as in this case, hide the ugly corrugated cardboard edge. I’ve tried several brands and they all work pretty much the same. I just pick up a small amount with a toothpick and apply it. Any excess can easily be wiped off.
During the early assembly, you will think this all looks like are random pile of junk and be tempted to give up. Keep pushing though the project. It will immediately look better once it is spray primed. Still not great maybe but it will give you hope.
One last bit of a news update: We did get an affiliate program setup with eBay. The goal is to earn enough from that to pay for the domain name & website fees each year. The following standard disclaimer applies:
Note: When you click on links labeled eBay Affiliate Link, this can result in this site earning a commission through the eBay Partner Network with no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!
The nice thing with this program is that once you follow the link to eBay, you can buy that item or any other item(s) and we get a small percentage credit… you can even bid on an auction item(s) and if you win, it still counts. Please help this mini restoration effort of ours by taking any one of our eBay Affiliate Links for all your eBay shopping needs. And don’t worry… I don’t plan to throw an ad at you in every blog post, but here is one just for our kick-off. The eBay Affiliate Link for the US Art Modeling Paste mentioned earlier is here. If you use it, or something that you like better, let us know in the comments. Also, check out our Link page for more handy gaming item suggestions.
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